Have you ever bought a potted plant in a store? There is a small flourishing instruction on a little plastic strip in the pot. It says how much fertilizer the plant needs, how many times it requires to be watered a week, whether it needs shadow or sun to flourish.
Have you ever thought of WHAT YOU NEED in order to flourish, to develop your full potential or simply be at your best when dealing with the challenges in everyday life?
Many of us are very good at serving others and fulfilling other peoples needs.
I think it’s very important to have a closer look at our own needs and fulfil them first if we want to be inspirational leaders, creative and effective colleagues, caring parents and loving spouses. This is not egoism, it’s the basis for true altruism. Because when we know what we need in order to be at our best, we can also give others the room think about their “flourishing instructions” and maybe even exchange our thoughts on that.
Last week in a leadership training “How to develop my potential and my effectiveness” for entrepreneurs I invited the participants to design their own flourishing instructions:
- Take a blanc postcard
- Draw a beautiful flower on one side with coloured pencils, write “My personal flourishing instructions"
- Turn around and assemble a list of things that nourish you, that help you to be at your best
- When assembling the list, think of the small things in daily life, that you can treat yourself to (not the fancy handbag nor the luxury fast car)
- I invited them to think about very personal things which were not shared in plenary afterwards
They can now take out their personal flourishing instructions when they need them, when they feel the need for a little energy boost.
On my personal list, there is among others:
- Enjoy a latte macchiato in the middle of the morning
- Resetting exercise: take a deep breath and feel my feet on the ground.
What is on your personal flourishing instructions? I’m curious to hear about it.
